Last Night: Hotplate Steak House

Fighting off post-exam sleep deprivation and general foreboding about results I went to my friend's belated birthday dinner. This dinner was forced upon her. She didn't really want to do something but we overpowered her and she ended up having fun - so, lesson here is say "Yes" to things.

We tried out this Taiwanese Steakhouse place next to the Taiwanese dessert place in Chinatown. You know, the dessert place with the massive line (by the by, dessert place is okay but nothing to wait in line for. Choose a time in the day when the line isn't so long).

There's a set for dinner time and if you buy 2 sets you get $9.95 off the second set. Or something like that. A set is $19.95.

Salad

Garlic baguette

KongFu Onion Soup. (Have a choice between this and corn soup).

Shotglass of sorbet. Strawberry, me thinks.

Main: New York Sirloin Steak. (Have a choice between 4 mains).

Ice-cream (Can choose between ice-cream and a fruit platter).

 Plus, you get a choice of drink either hot black tea, iced black tea and iced green tea.

I got pretty full around the onion soup and baguette time. Dipping the bread in the soup is AMAZING. And of course there was birthday cake that my friend bought for my other friend from 85 Degrees Bakery. Cheesecake. It was amazing but we were so full and trying to eat that wonderful piece of cheesecake was torture! XD

Karaoke afterwards at SM Karaoke (I have no real idea about what it's actually called). Take the stairs next to Madang, which is somewhere off Pitt Street.

Fun night out. Crashed as soon as I got home. Good way to end summer session.

• Find Hotplate Steakhouse at 42 - 48 Dixon Street, Haymarket.

Exam eve

As I sit here on the eve of another exam I regret all the procrastinating I did throughout this summer session. By 12:30pm or 12:40pm (There's reading time so ... XD) tomorrow I'll be officially on holidays until 1st March. What is that ... like 2 weeks?

I only need to pass the exam, or just below pass, to pass the subject. Though, as a law student I should be aiming higher. I didn't attend many of the classes of this subject and I should be majorly cramming right now. I just took at look at some practice questions and I'm a bit overwhelmed.

Think it should be ok. Fingers crossed. And as always, I shall be a better student next semester!

See you on the other side of tomorrow!

Guess what this kitty is saving for?

I've resolved to save money to go to Japan some time this year for about 10 days (uni schedule and money is limiting the amount of time I can go overseas). I plan to go alone if no one wants to go with me. I don't know how my dad will feel about that. I want to go after Easter because I have a week off uni then plus it's around my birthday and I thought "Frak this. I'm going to be 24 and I'm a little bit in limbo at the moment might as well not think about it for a week or so." XD That is my logic. I don't really deserve one. I think it feels better to go on holiday after accomplishing something. When I went to Japan in 2009 it was because I finished my undergraduate degree. When I went to the Philippines last year it was because I finished up my 1st semester of law school relatively unscathed plus I wanted to see my Lolo (grandfather) after a prolonged period of not seeing him. So, to me, it feels a little pointless if I go on holiday (holiday from what?) without accomplishing anything. Some people can just go on holiday because it's a holiday. I feel somewhat guilty. Probably because the money I'm spending is not my own.

So, as I sit in front of the computer procrastinating (I have a commercial law exam soon-ish. I should be stuyding) I decided that I should make start in trying to save up.

I given myself 2 time periods to save up for:

28 April - 8 May or 19 July to 31 July. Flying Jetstar from Sydney return, currently, will cost $1021.97. That number is my goal.

Obviously this doesn't factor in accomodation, JR Rail Pass, food, expenses. But little steps first.

That Hello Kitty money box now has a lock and I WILL NOT REMOVE any money from it. It has around 4 bucks inside it at the moment. Let's hope I don't have a moment of weakness and crack it open to buy booze. XD

February

I've been eating ice block things all day instead of actual food. Actual food is warm and it is much too hot for that.

Summer school is almost over just an exam in  few days which I have no notes for and haven't attended a lot of the seminars for either. I was going to start studying today but it's too HOT. It's supposed to be mid-30's in Sydney for the rest of this week. Me thinks I should esape the heat and travel all the way to uni to study where it's air conditioned. Except, it's all the way in the city. Travelling in this weather is just something I do not want to do.

As for my summer goals:

6. Eat less junk food: I've been pretty good at not doing this. Although, at times I REALLY do crave a burger. I want a good one. I keep seeing good looking burgers on food tumblrs and I almost drool over the keyboard.

Everything else has not happened. Since today is the 1st of the month a new start. To refresh.

I can't study in this heat, you guys. >.<

Long time - no blog!

Summer school assessments are killing my blogging ambitions. Currently at uni computer lab. About to head out for some Korean food for dinner. Good food with friends. Excited.

Also, am running out of things to blog about. My life is quite uneventful. Ha. I was checking out flight prices for April between 25 April and 8 May. Planning on going on holiday then. It's around my birthday so hopefully I can go. Even though I have no source of income. I can dream, can't I?

Yep, just a short fly by post!

Just a take-home exam and acutal exam for summer session to go! This JD thing is going fast. XD

Ilustrado - Miguel Syjuco

More than anything this book makes me want to write again.

Without revealing what happens it was an interesting narrative style to take. I remember being told in a creative writing class one day that to switch between different persons (like from 1st to 3rd) would not work. That the technique is more confusing. I thought it worked for my particular short story but he was the teacher and the expert. But looking at the writing style of Syjuco I feel that it's okay to take liberty with the way you write. There is no one way to tell a story. You can experiment. Tell and write the story how you like and the reader will follow you. Because the reader isn't stupid and to treat them like one ... well, that's stupid.

What can I say about the book itself that isn't too revealing? First of all, I have got to Google all these people to see if they're real or not. If the events happened or not. Blending of fact and fiction was just too convincing. It was interesting to see another point of view of the Philippines. I only have the one perception of it - mine. And mine was that there is such a divide between the rich and the poor. That change doesn't seem to be happening any time soon. That there is a lot to fix and it does seem such a monumental task that it may be hopeless.

"Ilustrado" explores such perceptions as well as suggesting that for change to occur it is up to each one of us. To have hope and do anything, even a small thing, because it makes a difference.

The passages in the novel about the arrogance of the upper class were really irritating to read. That's probably what Syjuco intended. I'm not upper class at all so to read about all of these advantages and privileges of the elite is just reminds me of the gap between the have and have-nots. Moreover, this new breed of Philippine elite - the beautiful and the rich - somehow seems so much removed from the reality that is the Philippines.

• Another article with Miguel Syjuco: An Expatriate Filipino Writes of a Parallel Life.

First book of the year: Ilustrado - Miguel Syjuco

The first book I'm going to attempt to read this year is "Ilustrado". I was randomly linked to an interview that featured Miguel Syjuco. It was a really smart interview and he had some pretty interesting things to say (Interview with The Australian and with TIME). A quote from The Australian interview:

In The Philippines, English is the language of education, government and the elite social strata to which Syjuco belongs -- he admits that his Tagalog, the language of the masses, is "embarrassing, conversational", if that.

When I read that I thought, "That is so me." When I was in the Philippines for holidays last year I spoke in English the whole time. I could understand more than I could speak. But speaking in English just gives me away (ie. they'll know I'm a tourist).

From the blurb:

ILUSTRADO opens with Crispin Salvador, lion of Philippine letters, dead in the Hudson River. His young acolyte, Miguel, sets out to investigate the author's suspicious death and the strange disappearance of an unfinished manuscript - a work that had been planned not just to return the once-great author to fame but to expose the corruption behind the rich families who have ruled the Philippines for generations.

To understand the death, Miguel scours the life, charting Salvador's trajectory via his poetry,interviews, novels, polemics and memoirs. The literary fragments become patterns, becomes stories, become epic: a family saga of four generations tracing 150 years of Philippine history forged under the Spanish, the Americans and the Filipinos themselves. Finally, we are surprised to learn that this story belongs to young Miguel as much as to his lost mentor and we are treated to an unhindered view of a society caught between reckless decay and hopeful progress.

This is Miguel Syjuco's debut novel and from all the reviews I've read thus far - it's a good one.

Having grown up in Australia I have very little knowledge about the history of the Philippines. It's not something that you study at school. Good books on Philippine history are rare so I think this would be a good chance to learn something.

I originally bought this book as a Christmas present. It wasn't for anyone in particular but I thought it'd be a good gift. In the end we bought 2 too many presents and this was leftover so I got to keep it for myself. I wrapped it and everything.

Finally have some sort of little break from summer school (not really. I'm pretty sure I have something due soon but I need to read something that is not law related or I think my brain might just die).

I think I ended up reading maybe 5 books last year. Maybe. Not a lot. I have a lot of books I want to read this year. Let's hope I have the time!

010111

What did you do on the first day of the new year?

I spent mine doing group work for uni.

Hope y'all were either sleeping or drinking and eating so much instead of doing something so practical!

2011 is almost here! Got your resolutions yet? Here are mine!

Fail attempts to capture the '10' from 2010. Kind of looks like 11 right?

• Learn to drive
• Get a job
• Study harder
• Volunteer
• Write more
• Blog more
• Keep a personal diary because I do not remember what happens to me every day
• Take more photos
• Make more friends
• Be much nicer to the friends I already have
• Be much nicer to my family (I don't know if you know this but I'm pretty mean sometimes)
• Cook more
• Bake more
• Eat more fruit and vegetables
• Eat any form of instant noodle less (which will be hard because sometimes it's the only thing left in the house!)
• Get better at Japanese, Korean and Tagalog. Maybe English too. Some days I feel like I'm just mangling the langage
• Go overseas!

Too much? XD

2010: In Review

January

I remember not doing much and being at home mostly. Lack of money and well, just lack of things to do. Highlight of this month was going to the Jenolan Caves. I went with my cousins and their childlike enthusiasm was just so wonderful to see in a month when I wasn't feeling so great about some things.

February

I dyed my hair and met up with lots of friends. I watched a film but I don't remember which one. Birthdays were had, people left.

March

Arashi no Shukudai-kun ended! I watched it live on KeyHole and oh, I think I may have cried. I also may have graduated from my undergraduate degree.

April

Easter. I turned 23.

May

Earlier in the year my friends and I had weekly dinners and then later in the year that just phased out. Good friends and good food.

June

End of first semester of law school. Trying to get through exam period, my younger brother's birthday and I left to go to the Philippines! I hadn't been there in 10 years.

July

Spent most of this month overseas in humid weather and being unable really to travel by myself. Kept having to be chaperoned by my dad or some random cousins that I appeared to have. I think the Philippines would be the highlight of my 2010. That and Christmas.

August

Start of second semester. Looking back I should have tried harder. But I say that all the time about everything. I think I should make that an ongoing resolution.

September

No real idea at all. Must remember to write stuff down in 2011. Can't always rely on check past tweets to see what I did that day.

October

Cousin's birthday and just a whole bunch of uni stuff.

November

EXAM HELL!

December

One of my favourite times of year because of Christmas. But my favourite month was kind of marred by the appearance of summer school. I'm currently in some sort of summer school hell but it's New Year's Eve Eve (at the time I post this) so I can't be too sad!

Overall, it was a pretty static year for me. Although, it seems like it always is. In 2011 I want to do things that make my heart pop out of my chest.

Goals and resolutions for 2011 will be posted up tomorrow or as soon as I can think of them!

Merry Christmas!

Somewhat belated.

I spent Christmas Eve with family, at church, then with family again as we opened up gifts at midnight. At least that was the plan. The distribution of gifts took longer than expected. Christmas just has this completely generous feeling about it. Good will and all that jazz. Even though I was in some what of an odd mood to begin with being surrounded by so much family and general happiness - just infectious.

And my favourite present this Christmas is my brand new Fuji Instax 210 Wide. A gift from my brother. I'm using the film sparingly since I only have 20. It's kinda big but it's worth it for the size of the picture. Though, a Mini is tempting though. Also, it seems that there's no photo albums specifically made for Wide film like there is for the Mini. I'm just putting them in a regular sized photo album for now until I can think of an alternative. I also got an Esprit wallet, some jewellery, some bath stuff, a brush and some money (my Aunt's overtime pay which was $14.50. Which was cute because the adults were all handing out money to kids and I don't count because I'm nearing mid-twenties and am not a kid XD).

Oh, Christmas. The next one is so far away! Still, there's New Year's Eve and New Year's Day then Australia Day and a few months after that my birthday! Still lots of other magic days left!